I was recently in a leadership class when the instructor started naming heroic figures in history…”Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., John Lennon, Abraham Lincoln….all of them stood for something, and all were shot.” He paused for reflection and then continued. “Do you know what the problem is with your lives?”

The question lingered in the classroom as all one hundred of us pondered the inquiry.

“The problem is none of your lives are worth a bullet.” He stated bluntly.

Two weeks later and I cannot get this thought out of my mind as I know he is right. My life isn’t worth a bullet. Hours, days, weeks and years pass and I breathe and the time passes but what truly do I stand for?

Our lives are a blip. We are a ship passing in the night carrying this luggage around our true boundless energy. This lifetime, this existence is a whisper, passing like a shadow that can fade at any moment, yet this body allows an expression of our energy, a footprint in the sand, one voice to say “I AM!”, one voice that echoes to all that says “we are one”.

Day after day, month after month, year after year roll by; we fill our time with meaningless pursuits, no expression, nothing to merit the mention of a bullet. What truly do we stand for in this lifetime?

I recently competed in the Master/Senior World Championships in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. It didn’t matter to me if I won or lost, this was not important. What mattered to me was my expression, was my effort, I wanted to walk off the mat LEAVING NO DOUBT. I wanted my opponent to look across after the match and say “that guy was committed, that guy had passion, that guy was here.”

This is the same expression I want in life from every person I come across, every person I touch, every person who even whispers my name I want them to say “that guy was here, that guy had passion, that guy moved me.”

Leo Tolstoy said “everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”

Change starts within. It starts with the question what do I stand for? What am I committed to? What expression is worth this lifetime, worth a bullet?

Gandhi said “be the change you want to see in the world.”

Life is like ringing a bell if you strike lightly you get a faint sound, if you strike with passion, with full expression then the bell will ring, the universe will speak, your expression will be heard.

LEAVE NO DOUBT ….all we have is this moment right now, you are the one to make a difference.

Life is a reflection of our intentions and attitude. Our lives simply mirror our output, unfiltered and directly correlated to the source of our way of being. It is as if life is a bell and the output is determined by how we strike it. Take a passive approach and give life a tiny ping, in turn life gives you muffled, faint sounds that lead to frustration, uncertainty and a lack of accountability.

Our natural inclination is to point fingers elsewhere and blame others and even life itself. This is what victims do in life. Life is a story of what is wrong and who is to blame, and our misfortune and even lack of luck in why things do not turn out different. Our fingers point outward and all of our power is lost. It is impossible to have power in our lives when we do not take accountability. We alone are 100% responsible for our lives. There is only one place to look at the quality of our lives and that is in the mirror.

Look in the mirror. Not in passing, not for a second, but truly look. What do you see? This is your life. Look again. Look deeper. Life is reflecting all of this. All of your fear, your chaos, your lack of integrity. The universe speaks the truth, there is no bias, it is simply reflecting your output, nothing more nothing less. If you are outputting lies and worried about judgment then your life will reflect this. If you are angry then life will be angry to you and others will see you and be angry around you. If your life is chaotic and unsettled, look in the mirror there is something there for you to be responsible for. There is no place else to look. Spending a life trying to change others will make no difference to you. This is an endless journey of making others wrong and trying to prove that you are right. Buy a mirror, this is a far more frugal investment and will save you a lifetime of pain. There is only one person you have the power to change and that is yourself. Look in the mirror and get straight with yourself on how you view life, what do you see? How do you treat others? Here lies the secret. What you create, what you put out in life will reflect directly back to you.

If you want love then love. If you want to be listened to then listen deeper than you ever have. If you want others to stop judging you then stop judging yourself and people in your life. As Leo Tolstoy said, “if you want to be happy, be.” Life is this direct correlation to your intent and attitude. It is this simple, yet it takes something.

It takes being straight. We are not straight with the energy we put in this world. We mask it with fake happiness, and lies. We lie to others and more importantly we lie to ourselves. We mask our fears with these lies and we pretend life works. We are not straight with anyone and yet we wonder why our life is not working. We wonder why others are not being straight with us or why we are dissatisfied. We lightly ping the bell and yet we keep looking for a grandiose symphony. Look in the mirror and get straight with yourself. This is life, this internal battle of clearing negative intentions with that of purity and positive energy. This was the legend of King Arthur and the Excalibur sword. Only the pure of heart could remove the sword from the stone. This is the quest.

Look fear in the eyes and let it go. This is not you. You are an extraordinary individual filled with love, with happiness, with creativity and inspiration. All of your negative emotion and fear is simply a mask that keeps you from the life that you want. You alone are responsible. You alone can create your life.

Look in the mirror. Ring the bell. The sounds are glorious as are you.

Call to Action:

Look in the mirror, deeply look. Get straight about what you see. Do you see happiness and love or do you see and feel fear? Get straight about what energy you are putting out into this world. Write down what you see and put this aside.

Create what you want and put this energy out. If you want love, be loving. If you want happiness be happy. If you want abundance be abundant.

Take on 100% responsibility for your relationships and your life. There is no where else to look.

“To Be or Not to Be. That is the question.” Shakespeare tells us. This is the question. The question of our choice in life. The question that ultimately tells us that we alone have the ability to create our lives. This question simplifies all of our stories, our suffering, our pain into one question. What do you choose for your life?

All of us go through challenges at some point. Our mind creates the perception of UPs and DOWNs in life. It is as if the Universe tests our resolve, our commitment. It seems as if the Divine is asking us if we REALLY want our manifestations. Two steps forward, one step back. Knocked down nine times get up ten. This is life. It just is. It is exactly the way it is supposed to be, and we are in it and learning exactly how we should.

I was reminded of this last evening by someone I truly love. I felt lost. I felt as though I was losing something very important to me. I was clinging to the expectation of how something was in the past. Today is not yesterday. I was suffering as I was clinging to this ideal in my mind. I let this go and accepted my situation as exactly how it should be and I am learning exactly what I should be learning. In this I am blessed. I am blessed for my incredible friend. I am blessed for this lesson. I am blessed for this test in life. I can choose. To be or not to be. I could have chosen suffering filled with anger, gossip and destruction. I am choosing a different path filled with unconditional love and acceptance. I am choosing gratitude. I am so grateful in having the opportunity to go through this lesson. I am a better person for it. My bond with this friend is greater for it. My bond with my commitment in life is stronger because of it.

Every moment in every day is an opportunity to choose. Choose coming from your commitment in life. Your commitment is far bigger than your thoughts, feelings and emotions. The mind and these emotions have us play small in life. They have us look at life through an ego centric point of view. When you get connected to what you stand for on this planet then you no longer have time to play small or cater to these emotions. Life is too short for this trivial matter. Your game is far bigger than this.

Find what you want in life and LET IT BE. Find WHO you want to BE in life and let this BE. Be Happy. Be Peace. Be inspiration. Be power. BE LOVE.

Call to Action:

Get present to where you lack power in your life. Get present that this moment is a choice. Choose your way of being in every moment.

Find what you stand for in life. Write it down. Post it on the wall, put in your wallet. This is who you are to this planet. You are not your thoughts and emotions. Life is too short to play small. Be committed to your stand in life and transform this world.

In order to live according to the law of God, a bird must fly, a fish must swim, and a person must love. If people did harm to others rather than love them, they would be behaving as strangely as if a bird were to swim or a fish were to fly.

The greatest way to improve each other’s lives is not through money, gifts, good advice, or even work, but through love.

Every person’s responsibility is to nurture love and bring it into this world.

Leo Tolstoy from WiseThoughtsforEveryDay

I love Tolstoy. One of the greatest writers of all time purposefully lived a simple life in his later years to focus on his connection to God and the Divine. He directly influenced Gandhi and those on a spiritual path on the virtues of Love and Nonviolence.

His words connect directly within me as if I have heard them before, as if I have felt and spoke from within. How great are the words….”we have a responsibility to nurture love and bring it into this world.” A responsibility….as a human being it is the core of our nature to BE LOVE and to bring it forth in our lives. It is our responsibility to be a clearing for love in our environment. We are all creators in our lives. We create our world. As Tolstoy says it is our essence and our responsibility to bring forth an environment of love. There is no higher priority. It is our duty.

Life is simply a choice. If you want happiness…be happy. If you want love…be love. We alone generate this. This is no where else to look. Tolstoy takes this choice to another level by saying it is NOT a choice, it is our responsibility to BE LOVE in this world. It is our duty to NURTURE and BRINGFORTHLOVE. Anything else is like a bird trying to swim or a fish trying to fly. Love is the root of a human being. Bring forth love into this world. It is no longer a choice.

Call to Action:

Take responsibility for your life as it is your creation. You alone create your environment. Create happiness….create love.

Bring forth love to this world, it is your duty, your responsibility. Be LOVE on this planet. You alone lead the way.